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Three St. Louis-area artists get kudos and cash from ‘Critical Mass’

William Morris, Brett Williams and Meghan Grubb
Nancy Fowler

Three local artists received $1,500 each on Tuesday night to help fund projects that include home movies and ideas about the spaces where we live.

In an event at The Sheldon Art Galleries, the local Critical Mass for the Visual Arts organizationnamed the recipients of its 2015 Creative Stimulus Awards.The money helps pay for the cost of ongoing work as well as funding new projects.

The 2015 winners are:

  • Video artist William Morris: Morris plans to work on a project involving Super 8 film his late mother shot. "It has morphed into an examination of how I feel about her and her childhood, growing up in the South."
  • Sound sculptor Brett Williams: Williams will use his funding to buy equipment, including some that will make his bulky installations more portable. "And I'm going to use what's left over to pay a couple of months' of studio rent."
  • Sculptor and installation artist Meghan Grubb: Grubb is addressing perceptions of space and our environment, using moss-covered labyrinths and other forms. "We all kind of walk around with paradigms for the world in which we live, and I kind of like to turn those upside down."

Last year’s awardees were Tate Foley, David Johnson and Mel Watkin. The Sheldon kicked off an exhibition of their work Tuesday night. The new winners will be exhibited next year.
This is the seventh year for the Creative Stimulus Awards. Winners are chosen by a jury panel made up of local artists and arts administrators, along with former recipients.

Follow Nancy Fowler on Twitter: @NancyFowlerSTL

Nancy is a veteran journalist whose career spans television, radio, print and online media. Her passions include the arts and social justice, and she particularly delights in the stories of people living and working in that intersection.